If you’re an Arduino fan and want to build semi-autonomous planes, copters, or land vehicles, then this review is a must-read. This powerful plug-and-play graphical software is so much fun, it’s addictive!

Columns

GeerHeadby David GeerInternational Climbing Machines Robots Go Places Humans Can’t
International Climbing Machines (ICM) robots use vacuum power to stay adhered to tall surfaces as they maneuver about, taking care of inspections and a variety of tasks.

Twin Tweaksby Bryce Woolley, Evan WoolleyRock and Rover
Along with everyone else that cares about science, human progress, and things that are just plain cool, we have been awestruck and inspired by the incredible success of the Curiosity Rover and the entire Mars Space Laboratory mission thus far.

Then and Nowby Tom CarrollServos
I wrote about servos in this column back in the beginning of 2008 when the Robotis Dynamixel rotary actuators had been available for a while for the robot experimenter.

Mind/Iron

3D printing has become so good that the printed prototypes outlive their usefulness. Most of my 3D printed plastic prototypes serve their purpose for perhaps five minutes and then end up in landfills along with lots of empty filament spools. ABS plastic and even so-called biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) will probably survive decades in the environment. Isn’t it time to find ways to repurpose this technology to decrease its footprint?